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Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and state socialism which uses federations of collectivized trade unions. For adherents, labor unions are the potential means of both overcoming economic aristocracy and running society fairly in the interest of the majority, through union democracy. Industry in a syndicalist system would be run through co-operative confederations and mutual aid. Local syndicates would communicate with other syndicates through the Bourse du Travail (labor exchange) which would manage and transfer commodities.
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Introduction
An emphasis on industrial organization was a distinguishing feature of syndicalism when it began to be identified as a distinct current at the beginning of the 20th century. Due to a still tangible faith in the viability of the state socialist system, most socialist groups of that period emphasized the importance of political action through party organizations as a means of bringing about socialism; seeing trade unions as simply a stepping stone to common ownership. Although all syndicalists emphasize industrial organization, not all reject political action altogether. For example, De Leonists and some other Industrial Unionists advocate parallel organization both politically and industrially, while recognizing that trade unions are at a comparable disadvantage due to the lobby of business groups on political leaders.
Syndicalisme is a French word meaning "trade unionism". More moderate versions of syndicalism were overshadowed by revolutionary anarcho-syndicalism in the early 20th century, which advocated the abolition of the state in addition to capitalism, feeling that syndicalist economics would replace the need for one. Anarcho-syndicalism was most powerful in Spain in and around the time of the Spanish Civil War, but also appeared in other parts of the world, such as in the US-based Industrial Workers of the World.
Syndicalism is one of the three most common ideologies of socialist economics, together with socialism and communism. It holds, on an ethical basis, that all participants in an organized trade internally share equal ownership of its production. By contrast, socialism emphasizes distributing output among trades as required by each trade, not necessarily considering how trades organize internally. Syndicalism is non-governmental and while some people say it's privatism, unlike communism, others maintain that it's more accurate to associate it with the civic sector. Communism rejects government-sanctioned private ownership and private earnings in favor of making all property legally public, and therefore directly and solely managed by the people themselves. In syndicalism, unions exist independent of the state rather than needing the state's micromanagement and central planning. As with businesses in capitalism, labor unions in syndicalism would likely share a complicated relationship of co-operation and opposition with the state.
Prominent syndicalists
American syndicalists
French syndicalists
- Fernand Pelloutier leader of the French Bourses du Travail (Labour Exchange)
- Emile Pouget Co-leader of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT, founded in 1895)
- Hubert Lagardelle writer
- Georges Sorel
- See also Charter of Amiens (1906)
English syndicalists
- Guy Bowman
- Tom Mann
Scottish syndicalists
- John Maclean, political activist and writer
Welsh syndicalists
- Noah Ablett, originator of the syndicalist pamphlet the The Miners' Next Step
- Will Hay
- Sam Mainwaring, orator & originator of the term 'anarcho-syndicalist'
Irish syndicalists
German syndicalists
Italian syndicalists
- Alceste de Ambris
- Michele Bianchi
- Enrico Leone
- Arturo Labriola
- Agostino Lanzillo
- Robert Michels - Although he was German, he moved to Italy and became a revolutionary syndicalist.
- Angelo Oliviero Olivetti
- Paolo Orano
- Sergio Panunzio
Spanish syndicalists
Swedish syndicalists
See also
- Anarchism
- Anarcho-syndicalism
- Consensus decision-making
- Council communism
- Democratic socialism
- Eco-syndicalism
- International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam (1907)
- International Workers Association
- National syndicalism
- National Confederation of Labor
- Soviet (council)
- Worker co-operative
External links
- The Association for Union Democracy
- AnarchoSyndicalism.net
- Rudolf Rocker, a major proponent of anarcho-syndicalism
- Libertarian Communist Library Archive
- General Strikes, maps with locations where strikes have occurred; includes resource links
- Small history of the UGT in Catalonia Workers at the Center of Mataró and the 1888 Congress of the C / Talleres de Barcelona was born the UGT under the socialist ideals of people like Pablo Iglesias, Reoyo Toribio, Salvador Ferrer, and many others in the problems that the workers had of that century.
Bibliography
- Anarcho-Syndicalism, Rudolf Rocker, London, 1989.
- Liberalism and The Challenge of Fascism, Social Forces in England and France (1815-1870), J. Salwyn Schapiro, McGraw-Hill Book Co., NY, 1949.
- Revolutionary Unionism: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Dan Jakopovich, New Politics, Vol. XI.,No.3, 2007.
- The Anarchists, James Joll, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1980.
- The Syndicalist Tradition and Italian Fascism, David D. Robert, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC, 1979.
- Lenny Flank (ed), "IWW: A Documentary History", Red and Black Publishers, St Petersburg, Florida, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9791813-5-1
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